Trapped
by Eiedolon
Summary: Come along with our hero, Cloudix, as he struggles to survive and retain his general sanity when he is ensnared by the game. An unknown enemy, a surprising friend, and many more plot twists.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

I tumbled out of the darkness into a much brighter place. So bright in fact that it burned my eyes. Luckily for me, the burning sensation didn't last long. Of course, that was because I had face-planted into the dirt. At least I was being positive.

I groaned loudly, picking myself up onto my hands and knees. My mouth ached from where I had bit down on my lip when I landed, and I spit out a fat glob of blood onto the grass below me. Everything around me smelled very natural, the air was much cleaner than I had ever smelled. In New York, all you could ever smell was the toxic, acrid odor of car exhaust wherever you went.

I rubbed my tired eyes with the heels of my palms as they adjusted to the light and I forced myself to stand. I stretched, feeling several quick pops from my arms, back, and chest, forcing me to sigh as I let out a pent up breath. It was then that I got my first good look around me.

"What the fuck…?" I whispered softly as I turned in a slow circle, taking in my surroundings.

I was in the middle of a green, mostly flat field that was covered sparsely with patches of tall grass and wildflowers, and I happened to be standing on the one small knoll in the middle of the area. In one direction there was a forest of short, rather square looking trees. The leaves came off the trunk in little cubes, making them look blocky. In the opposite direction, across the meadow, was a series of huge, jagged square sun climbed higher into the sky lazily behind them, silhouetting an animal of some sort that was perched at the top of one of the highest cliffs.

I figured I must be dreaming. How else could I have suddenly appeared inside of a computer game? I glanced up and I could see a tag floating a few inches above my head reading "Cloudix". I sighed quietly. I didn't want to pinch myself, because that seemed a bit too cliche. But then I remembered that after my rough landing, I had spit up blood from a cut in my mouth. I raised my fingers to my mouth and probed the area, finding it sore and swollen. I winced as a sharp pain ran through my lower lip. Well, that answers that question, I thought to myself. I wasn't dreaming. I could feel the small incision begin to heal itself, and within moments it was like it had never been there at all. Well, that's convenient, I thought. I sat on a small stone outcropping behind me.

"Okay, Cloudix. You're in a video game. And not just any videogame; it's Minecraft. The game where at night, grotesque creatures stalk out of the darkness to try and murderfy your face," I thought to myself as I buried my head in my hands. "There's several options. I could jump off of a cliff and hope it sends me out of here, but that idea doesn't seem to be altogether too pleasing. There's always the 'curl-up-into-the-fetal-position-and-cry' tactic, but that's usually a last resort. Well, it is a survival all I have to do is survive?" I thought out loud. With a heavy, burdened sigh, I got up from my seat and started sprinting down the blocky grass slopes to the forest on the other side of the field.

When I reached the line of trees, I realized that I didn't exactly know how to break them. So, with a sense of logic that I prided myself on, I ran up to the nearest tree and slugged it with all my strength. To my surprise, a little block of wood appeared on the ground, floating and spinning. I walked closer to examine it, and as if by some incredible force of gravity, it was sucked into thin air, and suddenly a small backpack appeared strapped around my shoulders. I shrugged, muttering "game logic" and continued to maul trees with a ferocity that could make a salad twinge.

After I had knocked a few trees down, I opened up my backpack to find my vision swimming for a moment before settling on a large gray table. In this table were a stack and a half of woode, seven oak saplings, and, to my great surprise and pleasure, a shiny red apple. It was much simpler than I thought it would be to craft things. All I really had to do was will my items into their respective slots and they appeared there. Almost like the world knew what I was thinking. Dismissing that disturbing notion, I created a random number of sticks and crafted myself a new wooden pickaxe.

I put it into the first slot of my inventory and I watched in awe as it materialized onto my belt pixel by pixel. I gave the mental command to close the inventory.

After punching my way into the ground, I took my pick from its place at my belt and started digging out a small space of stone, collecting enough to get started on what I wanted to do. Plopping down my crafting table I made myself a set of stone tools, and one by one they, too, formed at my belt. I climbed out of my hole to find the sun beginning to fall in the sky. Trying not to panic, I thought through my options. I didn't have a bed, so I couldn't sleep. There wasn't enough time to build a house, so that was out of the question.

In the end, I decided to climb back into the hole that I had created and I sealed it up with a few blocks of dirt. It wasn't long before I could hear the moans and creaking of the undead from outside of my dirt prison. Sighing, I crafted a furnace and put two blocks of wood into it. The room around me lit up with a light glow, and I could feel warmth emanating from the fire that was turning my wood into a piece of charcoal. I took the charcoal out and crafted some torches with it to light up the small area. I sat next to my now cooling furnace to debate my next plan of action.

Well, I could sit and wait for the sun to come back up, but who know's how long that could be? Do day and night cycles stay true to the twenty minutes it takes playing the game traditionally? Or does one minecraft day equal one Earth day? I thought to myself. I could hear the clicking and clacking of a skeleton's bones somewhere above my head. If i want to keep from going insane, It's probably best if I don't sit around and listen to them.

Getting up from my none-too-comfortable spot on the stone floor, I took my pick and started digging down into the ground, creating a staircase two blocks wide. I eventually came across some coal, and then a small bit of iron as well, but not enough for anything more than a tool or two. I went back up after a while and set my prized iron ore into the furnace. I sat down once more to begin thinking of an appropriate plan of action.

It's going to be a lot tougher from here on. Enemies will spawn and creepers will be around every corner. I'll have to watch my back. I need to gather resources, especially wood and stone. I'll also need to mine for large quantities of iron before I move on to anything else. I'll need armor and weapons and tools and other things. I'll have to gather seeds and water and build a farm. Maybe there's a village somewhere nearby, I could get potatoes and carrots, and maybe I can find a good trade or two. Although probably not. The sounds of skeletons and zombies burning outside grew louder in my ears. I removed the iron ingots from the furnace. I'll build a house and traps and a farm! I'll build a whole town! A city all for me! I rushed to the bench, quickly crafting myself an iron sword. I raised it above my head triumphantly. And nothing in this world can stop me! I rushed forward, digging my way out of the dirt and up to the surface as sunlight broke through the blocks, burning my eyes. I scurried out of the hole.


	2. Chapter 2

It had been several minecraft days since I found myself trapped in this virtual world. Not knowing what else to do, I decided to play the game. I spent several days collecting resources and leveling out some land to build a house to suit my needs. I began to lay the groundwork for the building. Stone brick floors and spruce log foundations, nothing too fancy, but still, with all the added detail, I thought it would come along very nicely, although I had really just begun. And this was where I found myself now, placing spruce logs down to make the walls for the first floor.

From far behind me came a steadily growing noise. It put me on edge, so I pulled out my iron sword. The cold metal gleamed in my hand as I held it at the ready. From the line of trees far in front of me came a horde of… people?

There might have been a dozen of them, all wearing black pants and green jackets with the hoods all pulled up over their heads. They were all chasing a similarly dressed figure, although this one was wearing a black skirt instead of pants, so I assumed that it was feminine. I readied my sword, about to intervene, when the one at the front of the pursuing horde started to glow bright white, and then it exploded, taking a huge chunk out of the land and a few of his comrades with him. My eyes went wide as I realized what they were; creepers. The bane of the minecrafter's existence. Quiet and dangerous, they could sneak up on you out of nowhere and blow up in your face.

The blast had knocked the girl creeper down onto the grass, and she scrambled to her feet to keep fleeing. There were eight or so creepers left chasing the one girl, but I could see that the chase wouldn't last long. These creepers had managed to back her into a corner below a large, steep hill of dirt. I crept around the side of the hill and perched on top to watch the scene occur from relative safety. Why were they chasing her?

Below me, the creepers were closing in on her. In an act of desperation, I could see her trembling as her entire body began to glow white… but the explosion never came. The aura fizzled out and receded back into her body as the other creepers grew closer and closer. How could I just stand and watch this poor creature die?

Before I had realized, I stood up on top of the hill, the sun behind me casting my shadow down into the eyes of the creeper in front. He hissed at me angrily, but was quickly silenced by an arrow landing right between his eyes. Another arrow materialized as a small pile of gunpowder fell to the ground. I was outnumbered seven to one, but I had the high ground and the better weaponry. It would be difficult, but I could have taken them all out. They seemed to understand this, strangely. Were these creatures intelligent? They backed away slowly at first, but then they began to stream back into the forest. The girl was collapsed on the ground, leaning against the side of the hill, breathing heavily.

I slowly made my way down the rocky hillside, coming around from the side as I stored my bow. I came up to her slowly, crouching down and eventually stopping and kneeling several feet in front of her. She turned her eyes to look at me, still breathing heavily.

"Have you come to finish me off?" She asked quietly between each labored breath. I shook my head, showing her my empty hands.

"Only if you've come to kill me." I said simply. She shook her head as well. At this point, I didn't really know what to say. I hadn't planned that far ahead, after all. I scratched the back of my head nervously.

"Do you know why they were chasing you?"

"Because I'm different." She looked hurt, and I could see it in her eyes. She turned away from me so that her green and black mottled hood hid her face.

"You sure are." I said quietly. She froze for a moment, and then scrambled to her feet to storm off, but she froze in her spot as I started to speak once more.

"You're the only one of your kind I've ever met that hasn't tried to kill me on sight. I wouldn't take that as a bad thing, if I were you." She wiped her eyes and turned to face me.

"Funny, I was about to say the same thing."

"I thought you might. But is that why they were chasing you?"

"No, they were chasing me because I… it's pretty embarrassing, really… but anyway, I can't explode. I've tried so many times, and I've come so close, but I just… can't. I don't really know why. But to us creepers, exploding and defeating the Players is our PURPOSE. It's the reason why we exist. To the others, somebody who can't explode doesn't have a purpose, and therefore, doesn't deserve to exist. So they were trying to kill me." She explained as she held back more tears.

"You can't explode?"

"Nope."

"And you don't wish me any harm?"

"Not like I could even if I wanted to."

"Then you should come stay with me. I'm building a house right now. I should have at least the first floor done by night." I didn't honestly know what I was thinking. Letting a creeper live in my house with me? That was an explosion waiting to happen. But I just couldn't take it anymore! It was sickening, this place, not having a single friendly person. And even though she wasn't technically a person, she looked like one and she acted like one enough that she might as well actually be, and the loneliness was becoming stifling. What exactly did I have to lose anyway? After all, I was trapped inside a videogame with no visible way to escape. For all I knew, maybe this was forever.

"You're kidding, right? Players and Creepers are sworn enemies. They always have been. We've killed so many of your kind and-"

"And you've killed no one. I don't honestly know if this is the right choice for me, but I don't really care anymore. So come live with me. Please? I can offer you food and shelter and safety and anything else you might need." She stopped and seemed to think about it for a moment. Her eyes refused to meet mine, even though I was felt like I was staring straight through her pupils into her… program? I don't know. She gave a soft sigh, and shakily said," Fine."

I let out a breath that I didn't know I had been holding and I smiled at her warmly.

"Right this way!"

* * *

As she sat on a small stone outcropping near my construction site and pushed her hood back, I finally got a good look at her face,so I took a moment to take in her features. She was rather short with long auburn hair and dark green eyes. A light spray of freckles crossed her cheeks and small, upturned nose.

"I almost forgot to ask you, but… what's your name?" she said quietly. I probably gave her the stupidest look I could manage.

"Can't you see my name plate?" I asked, gesturing right above my head somewhere.

"Well… yeah, I can, but some Players don't go by the names that they have there. And plus, I wanted to hear it from you anyway." She explained meekly. I shrugged.

"I don't particularly like my actual name, so you can call me Cloudix. What about you?" I asked her in the gentlest manner I could. She wasn't young or slow, as far as I could see, but she seemed off, maybe even damaged in some way. I wondered if her fellow Creepers had done more harm than the physical kind?

"Isabelle."

"Well, Isabelle, it's nice to meet you." I stretched my arm out to her, offering my hand to shake, but she seemed hesitant. I moved forward to grasp her hand in mine and shook it gently, making sure to smile.

"Cloudix." She said quietly, looking down. I prodded her chin upward to look into her eyes.

"Hey. Relax, alright? You're safe now." She looked at me for just a moment and the cast her eyes downward once again, giving me a tiny nod with an equally tiny grin. I went into my inventory and split my stacks of spruce wood in half. I offered them to her, tilting my head at the house.

"This will go a lot faster with help. Do you mind?"

"Of course I don't mind. I'll be living in your house, the least I can do is help you to build it." She said, taking the wood from me and standing up. I almost laughed at her.

"But if you helped build it and will be living in it, then doesn't it make it our house? Not just my house?" I asked her.

"Well, not exactly-"

"Then please, Isabelle, explain to me just exactly how it would be only my house? Give me ONE reason." I challenged her. She sputtered for a comeback, but, unable to find one, she sighed in defeat.

"So how about building that house?"

* * *

With Isabelle's assistance, the construction of our house went much faster than I had originally planned, although we had to change quite a few things in order to accommodate the extra person that would be living there. We eventually decided to scrap what I had built so far and start over with something much bigger and prettier. It was square in shape, with a hollowed out part in the middle for a courtyard. Isabelle had quite the knack for exterior design, while I could do more with the interior. Eventually, we would be rigging up lights and hidden passageways, but first we needed things like glowstone and redstone, neither of which I had acquired yet. By the time night was approaching, we had finished our basic structure. We had yet to put in walls and furniture, so it was really just a big, empty square with a few torches placed down to keep out the undead.

I transferred my chest of materials from my hole in the ground to the house-in-progress and used some spare materials to make a second bed for Isabelle. I put both of our beds up against the wall with a block between them at the head with a single torch placed on top. I also removed my armor and emptied it into a chest at the foot of my bed before stretching out my back that had become rather sore from carrying around pounds of metal all day long. I yawned softly as I laid down in one bed, and Isabelle in the other.

"Tomorrow, we should continue to work on the house. And we should make a sign board of things we have to do. We need to find a village, get some redstone, I still haven't found any diamonds, and we need to fix the situation with food. I've just been living off of the pigs and cows here, but they won't last. So we probably need to build a farm? I dunno. It would be pretty nice to find a temple, too. the quick TNT would be useful, and we could use it as a second base of operations. God, there's a million things to do. I guess we should start with the house. You know what they say, about having your own house in order. Or something like that." I felt so relieved to finally be speaking to somebody. I didn't quite feel like I was going crazy any more.

Isabelle was turned on her side, listening to my ramblings. She smiled at me, the first genuine smile that I had seen from her. It was almost contagious, and I smiled back.

"Good night, Cloudix."

"Good night, Isabelle. Sweet dreams."


End file.
